I have a complete 1955 Chrysler 301 poly head motor I want to change the heads to 1955 Chrysler 331 hemi heads. QUESTION: Has anyone here done a conversion of this type or have knowledge of such a conversion?
That 301 used to be, possibly still is desirable to the salt flats crowd. It was about making a class. You'll need hemi push rods. The 301 pistons have valve clearance notches in the wrong locations and due to the difference of chamber volume the CR might make it to 6-1. Aftermarket pistons is the answer. Probably with the new pistons($), re balancing will be needed. The valves might possibly clear the cylinder walls.
A lot of us old rodders in the past converted them, pistons, valve train, heads,push rods and intake, I'm just repeating what killeratrod said :thumbup:
expensive though! I get my nostalgia parts from EGGE ( egge.com)
So far what I've been able to gather is that it has and can be done. some of the issues are, head overhang on the cylinders, lower compression ratio, boring to 331 could create thin cylinder walls and then the overall costs of rebuilding being the same as a 392. I did hear stories of a blown injected 301 hemi that was effective, but I haven't found any details of that build and its not really the direction I was heading. I was thinking more of a streetable version.
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